SCRUTINY SHOULD NOT BE RUSHED
STATE Parliament resumes today for an action-packed final session. Counting the committee scrutiny of Government Business Enterprises, one or both houses of Parliament will be active for 19 days in October and November, compared with 30 sitting days in the entire rest of the year.
Our small parliament has had a couple of disrupted years. Last year’s sittings were severely disrupted by the Covid pandemic. This year’s have been curtailed by the election called in May. As a result the number of Bills passed through the parliament have been at near-record lows and some of the most important business is being packed into a few hectic weeks.
The government’s poker machine reforms – correctly known as the Gaming Control Amendment (Future Gaming Market) Bill 2021 – will feature prominently among the business. So too will the government’s third attempt to pass anti-protest legislation without it being either tossed out by the Legislative Council or the High Court. Both of these Bills on their own are complicated pieces of legislation with long-term ramifications and are deserving of careful consideration.
Question Time in the House of Assembly during the 50th parliament has been a less combative affair.
The government has taken full advantage of a friendly Speaker to spend more of the precious time, that should be dedicated to serious scrutiny, to instead sing its own praises through long-winded responses to legitimate inquiries – or prepared speeches prompted by gentle inquiries from their own benches. Little heed is paid to the standing orders regarding relevance or that questions be terminated in sufficient time. It is a pity that this feature of our parliamentary tradition is being allowed to atrophy.
Labor’s infighting has severely weakened the major opposition party’s ability to hold the government to account. It is to be hoped that it returns to better form soon. In the meantime, our Legislative Council – particularly its independent members are doing a host of important work that is sometimes overlooked or taken for granted. New member for Clark Kristie Johnston has shown a feisty determination to take the ball up to the government. The Greens continue to play an outsized role in pushing accountability and reforms.
Among those sitting on the notice paper is an attempt to restore the Lower House to 35 members. The important work of both government and opposition has fallen to too few hands. People are stretched, some appear exhausted and are even falling ill.
Perhaps more politicians would be a good thing after all. It may well be time to consider the merit of this longdebated idea for the good of our democracy.